Dr Paige Lanyon-Roberts
Dr Paige Lanyon-Roberts is a Brisbane GP and Bariatric Doctor who owns and operates Metabolic Health and Weight Management Clinic, Medsurg Weight Loss, whose clinicians work closely with St Vincent’s Private Hospital Northside specialists. She says the proposed new definition of obesity is a game-changer that will impact significantly on the way GPs and surgeons treat obesity.
"Shifting the focus from BMI to assessing other metabolic health parameters helps reduce stigma and allows us to identify when excess weight is a medical concern rather than just a number on a scale,” says Dr Lanyon-Roberts.
“People live in larger bodies for many reasons, influenced by genetics and environmental factors, and weight management is often a lifelong, complex journey.”
St Vincent’s Private Hospital Northside (Brisbane) bariatric surgeon, Dr Rob Finch, of Total Upper GI Surgery welcomed the new definition and recommendations that would shift the focus from body appearance and a person’s weight or BMI, to their total wellness and specifically, any issues with illnesses or co-morbidities related to their obesity, such as diabetes.
“It’s important for people living with obesity to understand that there are inevitably long-term health consequences with an elevated risk of serious illness and disease as they grow older if they don’t act early on addressing their obesity either through lifestyle changes or with bariatric surgery,” says Dr Finch.
“We know that obesity is commonly associated with a wide range of metabolic disorders such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver disease, chronic kidney disease and many cancers.”
“There’s still some sort of stigma connected with bariatric surgery that it’s the easy or lazy way out but some people who are severely obese can only lose that significant amount of weight they need to, to improve their overall health, through surgery.”
Dr Robert Finch
Kyanne van Essen
The Brisbane nurse has been frustrated as she saw her weight climb steadily from her pre-family weight of 70kg to a peak of around 130kg after her third child.
“I was diagnosed with a fatty liver during one of my pregnancies and while I don’t have any major health issues, now I’m well aware of the fact that as I move into my 30s and especially 40s and 50s that it’s just a matter of time before the excess weight I’ve carried will cause other metabolic health issues for me if I don’t lose it and keep it off,” says Kyanne.
“I’ve learned through my new GP that I’m at a disadvantage when it comes to weight loss, having a slower metabolism which means that I burn less fat than many other people and I have to work much harder than the average woman to shift weight.”
